A teenager who got into a stolen car minutes before it hit and killed a pedestrian has been given a community order.

Delton O’Neill, 18, was in a Range Rover as a passenger when it struck Douglas Scott Robertson on North Road, Stokesley.

Mr Robertson, 27, was dragged about 340ft by the vehicle, which went through a small wall and tree before it hit the side of a working men’s club.

Mr Robertson’s mother Jean North said he was a shy, kind, caring and intelligent man whose death left a “gaping hole” in his family’s life.

Driver Charlie Edward Tyers, 15, was locked up for five years in May.

Tyers, of High Lane, Maltby, Middlesbrough, admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

The sober but inexperienced driver sped at about 70mph on the 30mph road at about 12.20pm on Saturday, January 19.

He lost control, veered on to a footpath and hit a lamppost, then Mr Robertson, who died at the scene.

Tyers had taken the Range Rover from outside its owner’s home in Stockton almost six hours earlier, and drove it around on his own, “showing off”.

He and O’Neill ran off after the crash, chased by police. O’Neill threw away gloves, containing his DNA, found by officers.

The scene of the crash on North Road, Stokesley

He admitted aggravated vehicle taking allowing himself to be carried in the Range Rover. He had one previous conviction.

Richard Bennett, defending, said: “It’s been his first court appearance and it’s been an awful experience for him.

“He feels considerable guilt for what actually happened that day.”

He said O’Neill apologised and expressed regret.

If O’Neill was jailed, with time already served in custody and on a curfew, he’d be released immediately, but he was fit for work to put something back, added Mr Bennett.

Judge John Walford said O’Neill’s presence alone in the vehicle was a serious matter. He said it might have encouraged Tyers to drive recklessly.

He said he regarded O’Neill’s actions as “more the behaviour of someone who is young and inexperienced, not someone who is cynical and criminal”.

He added: “I accept that your involvement in so ghastly an offence as the death of an innocent person has had a salutary effect on you.”

He gave O’Neill a community order with a year’s supervision and 120 hours’ unpaid work.

Another passenger in the car, 23-year-old Sam Hanlon, of Ferndale Close, Wingate, was given a one-year community order with supervision and 200 hours’ unpaid work in May after he admitted aggravated vehicle taking.

The two passengers are banned from driving for one year each, Tyers for five years.